DETAILED ACTION
Notice of Pre-AIA or AIA Status
The present application, filed on or after March 16, 2013, is being examined under the first inventor to file provisions of the AIA .
The amendment filed 12/5/2025 has been entered. Claims 1-3, 5, 8-15, 17, 18, and 21-25 are pending. Claims 10-15 are withdrawn. Prior objections and rejections not included below are withdrawn in view of Applicant’s arguments and amendments.
Claim Rejections - 35 USC § 103
The following is a quotation of 35 U.S.C. 103 which forms the basis for all obviousness rejections set forth in this Office action:
A patent for a claimed invention may not be obtained, notwithstanding that the claimed invention is not identically disclosed as set forth in section 102, if the differences between the claimed invention and the prior art are such that the claimed invention as a whole would have been obvious before the effective filing date of the claimed invention to a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the claimed invention pertains. Patentability shall not be negated by the manner in which the invention was made.
The factual inquiries for establishing a background for determining obviousness under 35 U.S.C. 103 are summarized as follows:
1. Determining the scope and contents of the prior art.
2. Ascertaining the differences between the prior art and the claims at issue.
3. Resolving the level of ordinary skill in the pertinent art.
4. Considering objective evidence present in the application indicating obviousness or nonobviousness.
This application currently names joint inventors. In considering patentability of the claims the examiner presumes that the subject matter of the various claims was commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the claimed invention(s) absent any evidence to the contrary. Applicant is advised of the obligation under 37 CFR 1.56 to point out the inventor and effective filing dates of each claim that was not commonly owned as of the effective filing date of the later invention in order for the examiner to consider the applicability of 35 U.S.C. 102(b)(2)(C) for any potential 35 U.S.C. 102(a)(2) prior art against the later invention.
Claim(s) 1-3, 8, 9, 17-18, and 21-25 are rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vane (US 2004/0000521 A1) in view of Gao (“Application of zeolite-filled pervaporation membrane”, DOI: 10.1016/0144-2449(95)00094-1, May 1998).
Regarding Claims 1 and 22, Vane teaches a method for removing both ethanol and water from a composition comprising flavors and aromas [0005]. The method utilizes a zeolite membrane [0067]. Vane teaches that any type of membrane that offers a good separation factor between ethanol and water is suitable for the method [0062].
Vane does not specifically teach the use of a hydrophilic zeolite membrane.
Gao teaches that a hydrophilic polyvinyl alcohol membrane filled with NaA zeolite (Abstract) provides good flux and separation factors (Page 74, Conclusion) in ethanol-water mixtures (Page 72, Table 3).
Note that the permeate and feed for the membrane of Gao comprises, for an ethanol-water mixture, both ethanol and water. The membrane of Gao therefore removes both water and ethanol, regardless of if the “flavor composition” is retained in the feed or permeate. Note that any non-infinite separation factor indicates that the membrane is permeable to both components.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one having ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to utilize a hydrophilic zeolite membrane, ad taught by Gao, in the method of Vane. One would have been motivated to make such a modification to utilize a membrane known to provide good flux.
Regarding Claim 2, Vane teaches that the membrane may be used to treat a feed in liquid phase with dissolved organics, which is a solution [0049]. Note that a solution with some ethanol and water removed is also a solution.
Regarding Claim 3, Gao teaches that the feed of an ethanol-water mixture is 80% ethanol and 20% water (Page 71, “Molecular sieving effect of zeolites in the membrane”, Paragraph 1). Given the range of the claimed composition, the composition of Gao is interpreted the meet the compositional limitation. Note that the claim does not require that the flavor composition be either the feed or permeate of the membrane.
Regarding Claim 8, Vane additionally teaches distillation [0023-0024].
Regarding Claim 9, Vane teaches the removal of both water and ethanol as discussed above in regard to Claim 1, but does not specifically address the amount of removed water and ethanol. However, where Vance teaches the benefits of removing water and ethanol from a flavor composition, e.g. concentration of flavor [0058], one of ordinary skill would have been able to have adjusted the amount of water and ethanol removed to have arrived at ratios as claimed through no more than routine experimentation.
Regarding Claim 17, Vane teaches that for an ethanol-water mixture, the final ethanol-enriched product comprises 90% ethanol (Page 13, Table 6, “Overhead EtOH”), which touches the claimed range. Note that since the mixture is ethanol and water, Vane additionally teaches that the product is 10% water.
Regarding Claim 18, Vane teaches the removal of both water and ethanol as discussed above in regards to Claim 1. Vane therefore teaches that the flavor composition has a decreased ethanolic content compared to the feed (starting) material.
Regarding Claim 23, Gao teaches the use of PVA (Abstract).
Regarding Claim 24, Vane teaches that the flavor composition is enriched in organic compounds “up to 90%” [0013] but does not specifically address the claimed flavor compounds. However, where Vane teaches the concentration of aromas and flavours [0005], it would have been obvious to have enriched any flavor compounds, including the compounds claimed.
Regarding Claim 25, Vane teaches pervaporation [0017].
Claim(s) 21 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vane in view of Gao, taken with evidentiary reference of Zhang (“Synthesis of zeolite NaA at room temperature: The effect of synthesis parameters on crystal size and its size distribution”, DOI: 10.1016/j.apt.2012.12.010, January 2013.
Regarding Claim 21, modified Vane teaches an NaA zeolite membrane as discussed above in regard to Claim 1.
Zhang teaches that the pore size of an NaA zeolite membrane ranges from 3-5 Angstroms, which is 0.3-0.5 nm. Therefore, the membrane of modified Vane has the pore size as claimed.
Claim 5 is rejected under 35 U.S.C. 103 as being unpatentable over Vane in view of Gao as applied to Claim 1, above, and further in view of Grainger, et al. (“Wine Production Vine to Bottle”, https://vinumvine.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/keith-grainger-hazel-tattersall-wine-production-vine-to-bottle.pdf, 2005, reference is made to the provided excerpt).
Regarding Claim 5, Vane teaches that any appropriate additional treatment of the solution [0023] may be performed, but does not specifically address reverse osmosis.
Grainger teaches that reverse osmosis is an effective method for removing water and concentrating flavour components in a grape must (grape juice) (Section 12.6.1), and also for removing ethanol in an over-concentrated composition.
Therefore, it would have been obvious to one of ordinary skill in the art before the filing date of the claimed invention to utilize reverse osmosis in the composition of Vane. One would have been motivated to make such a modification since Vane teaches separation of a water phase from an organic phase, and Grainger teaches a method appropriate for such a separation.
Response to Arguments
Applicant’s arguments with respect to claim(s) 1-5, 8, 9, 16, and 18 have been considered but are moot because the new ground of rejection does not rely on any reference applied in the prior rejection of record for any teaching or matter specifically challenged in the argument.
Conclusion
Applicant's amendment necessitated the new ground(s) of rejection presented in this Office action. Accordingly, THIS ACTION IS MADE FINAL. See MPEP § 706.07(a). Applicant is reminded of the extension of time policy as set forth in 37 CFR 1.136(a).
A shortened statutory period for reply to this final action is set to expire THREE MONTHS from the mailing date of this action. In the event a first reply is filed within TWO MONTHS of the mailing date of this final action and the advisory action is not mailed until after the end of the THREE-MONTH shortened statutory period, then the shortened statutory period will expire on the date the advisory action is mailed, and any nonprovisional extension fee (37 CFR 1.17(a)) pursuant to 37 CFR 1.136(a) will be calculated from the mailing date of the advisory action. In no event, however, will the statutory period for reply expire later than SIX MONTHS from the mailing date of this final action.
Any inquiry concerning this communication or earlier communications from the examiner should be directed to DEBORAH LIU whose telephone number is (571)270-5685. The examiner can normally be reached 12-8 Eastern Time.
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/D.L./ Examiner, Art Unit 1791
/Nikki H. Dees/ Supervisory Patent Examiner, Art Unit 1791